Oh boy are you in for a treat! This Brown Sugar & Mustard Glazed Tofu is so delicious, that I have trouble not eating the whole thing in one sitting! Inspired by glazed ham with the diamond shapes and cloves, Brown Sugar & Mustard Glazed Tofu is the perfect centrepiece for Easter dinner or any holiday feast. This tofu roast looks all sorts of fancy, but it's actually really easy to prepare. Brown Sugar & Mustard Glazed Tofu takes just 10 ingredients and a bit of time to make. Sweet & savoury at home cooking has never been so good!
The tofu is coated in a sticky brown sugar glaze with mustard, garlic, and a hint of cinnamon. The outside of the tofu is chewy and it almost forms a skin, while the inside remains tender and juicy. This tofu is so delicious and simple that you may want to make this for a regular weeknight. See my tip for cloves in the recipe notes for a slightly quicker version.
This glazed tofu is gorgeous enjoyed hot out of the oven, but if you're lucky enough to have leftovers, it makes for a great sandwich when sliced cold and smeared with extra Dijon. Omnomnom.
To make the Brown Sugar & Mustard Glazed Tofu:
Prepare the tofu by draining it, and then pressing it for 30 minutes - 1 hour. I love using my Tofuture tofu press, but you can also follow these instructions for a DIY tofu pressing method. Pressing the tofu squeezes excess water out so that the tofu can suck up more of the marinade and become more flavourful!
Once pressed, remove the tofu and pat dry. Use a knife to score a diamond pattern across the surface of the tofu cutting about ¼ inch deep. Add the soy sauce and liquid smoke to a sealable bag or container, then add the tofu. Let the tofu marinate for a minimum of 1 hour or as long as overnight in the fridge, flipping the tofu every now and then to ensure both sides get marinated.
When ready to roast the tofu, preheat your oven to 375F (190C). Line a small baking dish with parchment paper.
Remove the tofu from the marinade and place on the prepared baking dish. Poke a whole clove into the center of each diamond. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes until the tofu is a dark golden brown.
While the tofu is baking make the glaze by adding the brown sugar, vegan butter, water, mustard, garlic, and cinnamon to a small pot. Put over medium-high heat, bring to a simmer while whisking often, and cook for about two minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
This is how the tofu should look after baking for 50 - 60 minutes.
Once the tofu has baked and is golden brown, remove from the oven, pour the prepared glaze on top, then return to the oven and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes until the glaze is bubbling.
Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes. Remove the cloves using a fork or kitchen tweezers before serving. I also like to use a pastry brush to gently brush excess glaze off the top of the tofu so you can see the diamond pattern better for presentation. Enjoy hot or cold!
Bon appetegan!
Sam Turnbull.
Brown Sugar & Mustard Glazed Tofu
Ingredients
For the tofu:
- 1 block (350g) extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
- 20 - 30 whole cloves (the spice), *see notes
For the glaze:
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- â…› teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Prepare the tofu by draining it, and then pressing it for 30 minutes to 1 hour. I love using my Tofuture tofu press, but you can also follow these instructions for a DIY tofu pressing method. Pressing the tofu squeezes excess water out so that the tofu can suck up more of the marinade and become more flavourful.
- Once pressed, remove the tofu and pat dry. Use a knife to score a diamond pattern across the surface of the tofu cutting about ¼ inch deep. Add the soy sauce and liquid smoke to a sealable bag or container, then add the tofu. Let the tofu marinate for a minimum of 1 hour or as long as overnight in the fridge, flipping the tofu every now and then to ensure both sides get marinated.
- When ready to roast the tofu, preheat your oven to 375F (190C). Line a small baking dish with parchment paper.
- Remove the tofu from the marinade and place on the prepared baking dish. Poke a whole clove into the center of each diamond. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes until the tofu is a dark golden brown.
- While the tofu is baking make the glaze by adding the brown sugar, vegan butter, water, mustard, garlic, and cinnamon to a small pot. Put over medium-high heat, bring to a simmer while whisking often, and cook for about two minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Once the tofu has baked and is golden brown, remove from the oven, pour the prepared glaze on top, then return to the oven and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes until the glaze is bubbling. Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes. Remove the cloves using a fork or kitchen tweezers before serving. I also like to use a pastry brush to gently brush excess glaze off the top of the tofu so you can see the diamond pattern better for presentation. Enjoy hot or cold!
Notes
Nutrition
Laura R says
I love this tofu. First made it for my Easter dinner early in the pandemic lockdown. Love the flavours, so easy. I like to press and marinate ahead. Not going to bother doing this as a single block ever again tho. Not enough for delicious sandwiches later! Two or three anyway…
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you love it Laura!
Dina Kennedy says
I love this! It's become my go-to Sunday supper =) I used low sodium tamari the most recent time and loved it even more. I also used the plastic tub the tofu came in as my marinating container which worked great. Thanks for another super delish recipe Sam!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you loved it, and loved the tofu tub idea! Why have I never thought of that? 🙂
Karan H says
This is absolutely delicious!!!! I will make this again and again!!!
Sam Turnbull says
SO happy you love it Karan 🙂
Marianne Surges says
So looking forward to trying this! What do you think about freezing the tofu first?
Sam Turnbull says
This would change the texture dramatically so I wouldn't recommend it. If you want to experiment, go for it! But the results will not be the same of course 🙂
Darcie says
Was so happy with how this turned out! My daughter and I both loved it. I cut my tofu into 4 even slices before marinating. I can't find liquid smoke anywhere so in place I used 1/2 tbsp spoked paprika in the marinade. Used powdered cloves per the recipe note. Because mine was sliced thinner it only needed about half the cooking time. Served with masked potatoes and air fried brussel sprouts. Thanks for the great recipe!
Kelly says
I'm planning on making this for the holidays, and would like to 4X the recipe. Do you think it would be wise to marinate each block separately?
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Kelly! You can marinate them together or separate them. Either way will work great. If you marinate them together, just make sure that each tofu block has equal access to the marinade so they can soak it up (so don't stack the tofu on top of each other with the marinade only touching the bottom layer). Hope that helps! 🙂
Florence says
This was delicious! The flavours notes were amazing, even without the cloves, which I couldn't find.
Bev says
I made this tonight for Sunday dinner. Wow! It exceeded my expectation from just reading the recipe! It is fabulous! Neither my husband nor I like the taste of cloves in ham (pre-vegan) so I left them out. Maybe I should try them next time....Excellent!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed it Bev!
dawna says
planning on making this tomorrow for thanksgiving but im wondering if it freezes well. I'll likely be the only one eating it but have another dinner next week and was thinking of freezing the leftovers from today.
Sam Turnbull says
The texture of tofu changes greatly when freezing so I would not recommend freezing this. You can make it several days in advance tho and store it in the fridge. 🙂
Heidi says
Made this a few times last year and was waiting until it got cool again and that was tonight. I double the smoke flavor cause we love it. My husband (who eats vegan more and more because of me) just loves it. We rarely have leftovers. Thank you for making this so easy and wonderfully tasty to win over meat eaters!!! 🙂 A few of your recipes are staple favorites in my house and I’m so so grateful!!
Sam Turnbull says
Aww that's wonderful, so happy to hear that Heidi!
Rita S says
Love this recipe. I have made it at least 10 times, probably more. My sons inhale it. They like it with 1/4 teaspoon of ghost pepper in the marinade and some in the glaze. (It is kind of spicy for me this way but they gobble it up) I find that the glaze can work for 2 batches. So for oil free folks.. you aren't getting too much oil. The ham works well for sandwiches and is much healthier than vegan lunch meat so I make it often. Thanks Sam! You're the best!
Kathleen says
Another amazing recipe Sam!
Lesley says
Would love to try this but am eating oil-free so the butter in the marinade is a problem .
Any suggestions?
Sam Turnbull says
You could skip it 🙂
Heidi says
This. Was. Wonderful! Haven’t had the best of luck with tofu recipes even though I’ve tried quite a few. Wanted to make sure I had time with this one as the ingredients were so interesting. I pressed the tofu for a good few hours and being that I didn’t make this until 2 days later, it soaked up all of the marinade by the time I made it. Didn’t change a thing, except I probably added a little more liquid smoke as I love a lot of flavor. Thought I would have leftovers but my husband loved it and we ended up finishing it at dinner between the two of us. Thank you so much for this recipe! My favorite tofu dish that was exceptional on the first try!
Emma says
Sam, you are such a gift to food-lovers everywhere.
I tried this with firm tofu (all I had). I don't have a tofu press and in draining the tofu I accidentally squished it to death. I left out the liquid smoke and cloves because I don't like them. I added extra mustard because I do like it! And I threw that whole mess into a greased baking dish (no parchment paper) and I baked it and it came out SO STINKING GOOD I COULD SCREAM. I want to eat the whole dish.
I love having a new tofu recipe in my repertoire now! All thanks to you!
Deb Australia says
Well we tried this one with our meat eaters at Christmas, and they LOVVVVVED IT!! ;D
What a hit!!!! There was none left, and we devoured the one we left at home for us in 2 days!!
This was just so so smokey and hammy tasting! Some of our meat eaters even said it was better than ham!
Winner winner at our dinner Sammy!
Will be making this one all year-round!! ;D
Hope you had a great Christmas everyone!! ;D
Deb Australia says
Just me again, saying I just bought your awesome Fuss-Free Vegan Cookbook.
Very much looking forward to it's arrival!
Thanks for all your wonderful recipes...(including the first one which led me to your site for Pumpin & Peanut Butter Dog Treats) 😀
EileenB says
Made this for a birthday dinner, and everyone at the table loved it, vegans and carnivores alike. As written, this is very festive looking and nice for a special dinner. It will definitely be on my regular rotation, but I will probably try cutting into slabs next time so that the glaze is more distributed and to speed up cooking and marinating time. Probably my favorite tofu recipe so far, thanks so much for sharing!
Melanie says
I made this for part of our dinner on Christmas Day and all four of us absolutely loved it. There was none left! I will most definitely be making this again. I highly recommend this recipe. The glaze is absolutely delicious. Note: I left out the cloves and just used regular mustard.
BJ Wahl says
Oh gosh this is good! Love the smoky flavor. Marinated it overnight, which I think is good. Will try freezer dried tofu next, but will definitely double the recipe so there’s some for leftovers. Passing it on to my two vegan daughters too. Thank you for another new tofu recipe.
Cher Sewell says
Absolutely delicious!
We did one in the oven with liquid smoke and we smoked the other in the wood smoker. Sensations either way!